The secretary of the Killer Beez Southern Swarm has been sent to prison for conspiring to deal methamphetamine. He is determined to quit gang life and become a jeweller. Photo / Brett Phibbs
The secretary of the southern faction of the Killer Beez jailed for his part in the gang’s drug-dealing operation is determined to swap a life of crime for a lifestyle making jewellery.
But a judge was sceptical, saying Stenton Wilde had enough time on bail to make the steps needed to exit the gang, rather than wait until he was out of prison.
Wilde has been sentenced to three years in prison on charges of conspiring to deal methamphetamine, possessing cocaine for supply and participating in an organised criminal activity, after police found drugs and $35,000 cash wrapped in plastic cling wrap and concealed in his house.
He and others were involved in the supply and distribution of methamphetamine throughout the Nelson and West Coast regions, Judge Jo Rielly said.
She said Wilde, as secretary of the Killer Beez Southern Swarm, kept administration records on behalf of the gang he willingly engaged with.
His sentence took into account his early guilty pleas, plus time already served on electronically monitored bail, during which he was allowed to have a glass of bubbles at his wedding in January, and a night away on honeymoon.
It wasn’t clear if the honeymoon had happened, Crown prosecutor Jackson Webber said at sentencing on Tuesday, conducted remotely via video link because of the closure of the Nelson courthouse.
The charges against Wilde were for offending in 2023 that Webber described as being on a commercial scale and aimed at generating profit for the wider gang.
He was one of three sentenced this week as a result of a large-scale police operation across the Tasman policing district in late 2023.
Webber said “significant profits” were derived from Wilde’s contribution to the offending. Putting aside the cash, the boats, the bikes, jetskis, and jewellery seized in the 2023 operation, Wilde was found with $35,000 in cash hidden in his house, and two Harley-Davidson motorbikes worth $70,000.
Webber said he was also found with a large quantity of methamphetamine destined for the community in which he lived.
Defence lawyer Emma Riddell said an alcohol and drug report showed Wilde’s background, including having been raised in a broken family, having limited education and his struggle to hold down a job, was relevant to why he moved into criminal behaviour.
She said letters filed in his support showed his prospects for rehabilitation were strong.
“He’s genuinely clear that he wants to leave the gang. He’s very, very clear he wants to leave that lifestyle behind,” Riddell said.
She said the father of four was a talented jeweller and it was something he was passionate about and wanted to focus on.
“He knows he needs to be there for his family, who will really struggle without him in their lives,” Riddell said.
Webber did not think the circumstances in which Wilde was raised were particularly unusual, and that many others coped with being raised in broken families and did not venture into drug dealing.
Neither was the binge drinking in Wilde’s 20s much different to the behaviour of “a great many people”, he said.
The cocaine use came later, and mainly as a “weekend activity”.
“The main motivator seemed to be making money for the gang and himself,” Webber said.
However, he said there was no quarrel that Wilde played an important role in his children’s lives.
Judge Rielly said Wilde had a relationship with others higher up in the chain of meth distribution, and the Southern Swarm had a common interest in deriving income from drug sales, from which Wilde had personally benefited.
She acknowledged his commitment to his wife and children, but could not accept Wilde had been socially deprived by his upbringing and his parents' separation.
“It is clear your family have remained supportive throughout your life,” Judge Rielly said.
She said neither was there evidence that his background had contributed to his criminal offending.
“Rather, it was youthful immaturity and a negative choice of associates,” Judge Rielly said.
“I accept you have insight into the effects of your offending behaviour and you have a genuine desire to change.”
She said while Wilde had talked about leaving the gang, she was concerned that desire appeared to be among his future goals and he did not appear to have taken positive steps to do so in the time he had been on bail.
In arriving at an end sentence of three years in prison from a five-and-a-half-year starting point, Judge Rielly said she considered Wilde was “highly likely” to become a pro-social member of the community once his sentence was finished.
“It’s clear you are very talented and when you want to be, you’re a hard-working man.”
Brothers Joel and Tony Kite, patched Killer Beez members, were also sentenced to prison this week for their part in running the gang’s Marlborough operation.
Joel Kite was sentenced to three years and three months in prison on a charge of methamphetamine supply, participating in an organised criminal gang and failure to comply with a police search. He was convicted and discharged on a charge of failure to comply with a condition of a protection order when police found three air rifles in his possession during a search of his property in December 2023.
Tony Kite received a prison sentence of three years and six months for meth supply, participating in an organised criminal gang and failure to comply with a police search. His slightly longer sentence reflected an uplift for earlier drug-related offending.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.